Blair at Large

20th January 2011

There’s still plenty of money in the pot for someone attempting Tony Blair’s arrest

By George Monbiot, published on monbiot.com, 20th January 2011

Tomorrow, Tony Blair reappears at the Chilcot Inquiry. With any luck, he’ll have a tougher time of it than he did on the last occasion, not least because his attorney-general, Lord Goldsmith, has now testified that he misled parliament over the legality of the Iraq war.

This adds even more weight to the case that, in invading Iraq, Blair commissioned a crime of aggression. Since October 2009, arrestblair.org, one of monbiot.com’s sister sites, has offered a reward for people attempting a peaceful citizen’s arrest of the former prime minister.

The principle is simple: people make donations to the bounty pot, and whoever attempts an arrest which meets the conditions set by the site gets a quarter of whatever’s in it. So far three pay-outs have been made, of £2,619.67, £2,801.98 and £3,129.02.

There is currently £9,397.06 in the fund, so someone attempting to arrest Tony Blair tomorrow stands to make £2349.27, to use as they wish.

You can find details of Blair’s appearance, the terms and conditions and the case for his prosecution on arrestblair.org.